Farm official raising money for three-legged calf

İZMİR – DHA

A three-legged calf living on a farm, set up for rescued livestock animals, in the western province of İzmir has been finding it increasingly difficult to walk as it grows in size. 

The founder of the farm, Sibel Çağlar, said they have designed a special system for the calf, but the project cost was 25,000 Turkish Liras but had collected only 5,000 liras so far. She has asked for help from animal lovers. 

The calf, named Yunus, was born without the right front leg and was bought by Çağlar three months ago. Yunus was weighing 250 kilos at that time, but now is 450 kilograms. As he grows up, the calf can no longer carry his body, especially without one leg.

“Yunus will be getting heavier because he is Simmental cattle. This is a huge race. We are actually giving him a lot less than he should eat. We are trying to prevent him from gaining too much weight,” Çağlar said. 

She said they wanted to make a platform for Yunus to walk on. 

“He has an area which is 500 square meters in total, including indoor and outdoor areas. The indoor will be 200 square meters. The roof will be surrounded by retaining walls. Under the roof will be a system to carry one ton of weight. Here, a rail system will be installed and it will lift Yunus’ weight while walking. Doing so will not disturb his walking position. The system will be like the missing leg of Yunus. He will wear a vest and this vest will be attached to the crane along with hangers. Yunus will learn to walk in time by pushing himself. When he wants to go to sleep, the system will go down and he will be able to sleep.” 

Çağlar said their previous project had costed 40,000 liras and that they revised the project due to insufficient funds. “The project is now 25,000 liras, but still costly. The materials are very expensive. I hope we do it, because Yunus is a very sweet animal. He is very smart. Maybe nobody realizes, but he has very sincere and heartfelt feelings.” 

She said that when the money is collected, they would share all the stages of the project on social media, adding, “We will do it no matter what. Yunus believes in us.”